2009-02-01 52 0
| Sun 1 Feb 2009 in Cambridge: 52.1038117, 0.3679656 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Contents
Location
At the edge of some woodland just off the Roman road north of Horseheath, Cambs, in the south of the graticule.
Participants
Plans
Despite having to go out for the day, Benjw knew it was a pleasant and easily-accessible location, so aimed for an early morning expedition, coming from Cambridge by car.
The expedition
An early start on Sunday morning was needed if I wanted to make it to this hashpoint, as I was visiting friends in Staffordshire for the day and needed to be away by 10am. I briefly considered making this a sunrise (07:39) geohash, but decided that was overkill. Nevertheless, I managed to drag myself out of bed before sunrise (just), had tea, breakfast, more tea, and was on the road by 8am.
It was a simple enough drive to the hashpoint, as I'd been this way for work many times. Indeed, I'd been working at the edge of Horseheath village, about 750 metres away from the hashpoint, on several occasions before.
Just north of the village is the Roman Road known as Wool Street, running southeast from Cambridge to Haverhill. It's now surrounded by fields and is used as a farm track, but it's a public bridleway and is still frequently used by walkers. None were about this morning, though, and with good reason. Not only was it far too early, but there was a steady breeze -- or, rather, a constant arctic blast -- in my face as I walked up it, wrapped in many jumpers, coat and scarf.
The hashpoint was on the edge of woodland just off the Roman road, and as I got to the corner of the woodland I saw a gate with barbed-wire fencing and "private; keep out" signs. Worrying -- I haven't failed at a geohash yet(*) and, although I know I surely must at some point, I'd much prefer it not to be in an exposed field in the middle of winter.
- (* This is not as good as it sounds -- this was only my fourth attempt.)
However, by walking up the side of the field adjacent to the woodland it became obvious that the hashpoint itself was on my side of the barbed wire -- just across a small ditch. I got the GPS figure to 0.15 feet away at one point but as I was getting the camera ready it spontaneously wandered up to 2.5 feet. Dodgy technology, clearly.
This was a much more interesting field than the other field I've visited in this graticule -- this one had some woodland and some hills around it. The south of the graticule is starting to move out of the flatness of East Anglia which covers most of the north of the graticule. Indeed, just down the road from today's hashpoint, in Castle Camps village, is the highest point in Cambridgeshire. It's marked by a trig point and is all of 126 metres above sea level. (Here in Horseheath I was more-or-less bang on the 110-metre contour line, so I was almost as high. It's nearly enough to give you a nose-bleed.)
The usual photos were taken, and the barbed-wire fence turned out to be my ally after all, as it provided a handy post upon which to balance the camera. I tried to grin manically, honest, but it was freezing and it turned out more of a grimace.
Then I went home, made a packed lunch and drove another 130 miles to see friends. But sadly, hashing was not on their itinerary. Shame -- theirs would have been a new graticule for me.
Shiny ribbons earned
I didn't take a thermometer so I'm not sure if this was a Frozen Geohash or not. There was ice, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. It could have been planted there to mislead me.
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Benjw earned the Land geohash achievement
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Photographic documentation
Wool Street, about 2000 years old, leads to today's hash.
The handy information board about the road.
There was ice.
Horseheath village, about half a mile to the southwest.
Found it. (I had to leap the ditch.)
Proof.
Looking north.
Looking west, back towards my car.
Looking south.
